Effective transboundary corridors play a crucial role in jaguar Panthera onca conservation. Local residents reported jaguar sightings along the Baritú–Tariquía Biological Corridor, which prompted us to carry out this camera-trap survey. We surveyed an area of 1,243 km2 across the corridor to confirm jaguar presence. We used 50 single camera stations, with cameras placed c. 5 km apart. We placed the cameras along trails, streams and mountain ridges. We recorded jaguars at seven sites across the Corridor; at least three different individuals were identified. These records confirm the presence of the jaguar in the Baritú–Tariquía Biological Corridor between Argentina and Bolivia, a trans-frontier area of the Austral Yungas facing multiple threats but hosting one of the southernmost jaguar populations. Conservation efforts in border regions can promote collaboration and synergies between agencies and other conservation stakeholders, with important implications for wide-ranging predators such as jaguars and their habitats.

Urbanization of natural landscapes and increasing human populations have brought people and our companion animals into closer contact with wildlife, even within protected areas. To provide guidance for human–wildlife coexistence, it is therefore critical to understand the effects of anthropogenic disturbances and how well native wildlife species survive in human-dominated landscapes. We investigated the spatio-temporal responses of 10 vertebrate taxa, with an emphasis on the Endangered Eld's deer Rucervus eldii thamin, to anthropogenic disturbances in Shwesettaw Wildlife Sanctuary, Myanmar. We quantified anthropogenic disturbances as distance from human settlements, distance from a highway, and the presence of people and free-ranging dogs Canis familiaris. Anthropogenic disturbances had stronger negative impacts on the detection of native wildlife species than on occupancy. Eld's deer avoided areas close to human settlements and showed low diel activity overlap with both people and dogs, although we found a positive association with human presence at the camera-trap sites. Five species exhibited lower diel activity overlap with people in the rainy season when human activity is the highest in our study area. All studied wildlife species shifted to nocturnal activity or did not show any clear activity pattern during the cool-dry season when the presence of dogs increased. The ecological and conservation impacts of dogs are underestimated in South-east Asia, particularly in Myanmar, and this case study highlights the impacts of dogs on the temporal use of habitat by wildlife and the need for better practices in the management of dogs within protected areas.

The mainland clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa is categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and considered at high risk of extinction in the wild. Despite this, knowledge of its ecology and population status remains limited. We investigated the population density, habitat utilization and spatial and temporal ecology of the clouded leopard in Manas National Park, north-east India. We deployed camera traps across the forested habitats of Manas for 11,388 trap-nights, resulting in images of 12 clouded leopard individuals. The estimated population density was 1.73 individuals per 100 km2 and the relative abundance index was 0.18 per 100 trap-nights. The availability of small prey species and primary forests influenced clouded leopard habitat use significantly, highlighting the potential conservation importance of species such as hares, gallinaceous birds, porcupines and primates. We observed a high degree of temporal overlap (> 0.70), with distinct activity peaks, between clouded leopards and sympatric carnivores. We observed no spatial co-occurrence pattern between clouded leopards and sympatric carnivores. This study contributes to our understanding of the mainland clouded leopard population and its behavioural ecology in Manas National Park.

The Amazon River dolphin Inia geoffrensis occurs throughout the basins of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers and is categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Using satellite tracking data from eight dolphins (one female and seven males) in the Peruvian Amazon, we demonstrate that these dolphins inhabit a variety of habitat types and have core areas and home range areas of variable magnitudes. To gain a better understanding of how threats affect these dolphins, we examined the distance of dolphin records to locations of current and potential future anthropogenic threats. On average, dolphin home ranges overlapped with fisheries by 89%. Dolphins were found at an average distance of 252 km from the nearest proposed dam and 125 km from the nearest proposed dredging site. Given that many of these threats are still in the planning stage, we advise the government to consider the negative effects these activities have already had on other riverine species before proceeding. Additionally, efforts should be made to expand river dolphin tracking programmes to span multiple seasons, to track more females at our study sites and to increase the numbers tracked overall in other areas to improve our knowledge of the species' movement patterns.

Riverine systems and associated fish populations worldwide are threatened by human impacts, especially in tropical countries with emerging economies. In India, community-based fish sanctuaries are a key mechanism for the conservation of freshwater fish populations, but there are few peer-reviewed studies on this subject. Here we integrate over 35 combined years of field experience with a literature synthesis to define and classify community-based fish sanctuaries. We present a novel, critical analysis of fish sanctuaries as social–ecological systems with a functional characterization based on natural capital, ecosystem services, human well-being, and policy and governance. We find that such sanctuaries are shaped by complex social–ecological processes, including coevolution of religious practices and ecological change, feedback processes created by retaliatory conflicts between river users, and diverse and dynamic governance strategies. These sanctuaries hold great potential for the conservation of rare fish species in India, but are subject to myriad threats at local, regional and global scales. Given the complexity of these social–ecological systems, we outline their conservation potential and highlight directions for future research.

The bush dog Speothos venaticus is a highly social Neotropical canid categorized globally on the IUCN Red List as Near Threatened, as Vulnerable in Brazil and as Critically Endangered in Minas Gerais, south-eastern Brazil, and the Atlantic Forest as a result of human pressure. As part of the monitoring of this mammal, during January 2019–March 2020 we placed one camera trap in each of 22 forest fragments in various landscapes in 15 municipalities in the state of Minas Gerais and one municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On average, each camera trap was active for 4.3 months in each fragment. In a total of 2,856 trap-days we obtained the first record of S. venaticus in south-eastern Minas Gerais, c. 2 km from Serra de Santa Rita Mítzi Brandão Biological Reserve. This is the northernmost record of S. venaticus in the Atlantic Forest and highlights the importance of forest remnants in a fragmented landscape for this species. Further monitoring of this area should be a priority, to increase knowledge regarding the distribution of this species and for developing conservation strategies appropriate to these fragmented landscapes.

Many protected areas worldwide have been established to protect the last natural refuges of flagship animal species. However, long-established protected areas do not always match the current distributions of target species under changing environmental conditions. Here we present a case study of the Asian elephant Elephas maximus in Xishuangbanna, south-west China, to evaluate whether the established protected areas match the species’ current distribution and to identify key habitat patches for Asian elephant conservation. Our results show that currently only 24.5% of the predicted Asian elephant distribution in Xishuangbanna is located within Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, which was established for elephant conservation. Based on the predicted Asian elephant distribution, we identified the most important habitat patches for elephant conservation in Xishuangbanna. The three most important patches were outside Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve and together they contained 43.3% of the estimated food resources for Asian elephants in all patches in Xishuangbanna. Thus, we identified a spatial mismatch between immobile protected areas and mobile animals. We recommend the inclusion of the three identified key habitat patches in a new national park currently being planned by the Chinese authorities for the conservation of the Asian elephant.

Grazielanthus is a monotypic, dioecious and microendemic plant genus of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Its only species, Grazielanthus arkeocarpus, is categorized as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and comprises only one small population, in the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve, Rio de Janeiro State. Collaborative activities have been developed since 2013 to implement in situ and ex situ conservation actions for this species. Successful in situ planting has increased the number of individuals in its natural population. Ex situ conservation efforts have resulted in the cultivation of the species in two Brazilian living plant collections, and this will soon increase to three collections.

The rare plant Primula esquirolii, a karst cave species in the family Primulaceae, endemic to Guizhou, China, and with a presumed extremely small population, had not previously been observed since 1910. It is categorized as Endangered on the China Species Red List. In surveys during 2018–2022, we were unable to locate the species in its type location in Pingba county, but we discovered a previously unrecorded population of 44 mature individuals, 37 of which were long homostylous and seven of which were heterostylous. These individuals were discovered in Xiuwen county in February 2022, in an area of c. 50 m2, c. 40 km from the type location. All seven heterostylous individuals showed the short-styled morph. The almost homostylous P. esquirolii potentially faces the same high genetic load as other homostylous plants, and this may have led to its small population size and potential sensitivity to habitat destruction. Field surveys and informal interviews with local people indicated that the main threats to this species are its small population size and the loss of suitable habitat as a result of human activities. The most urgent requirement for the conservation of this species is to protect the habitat of this single known extant population and to carry out ex situ conservation. Further field surveys and research are also required to improve our understanding of the status of this species.

The endemic Caspian seal Pusa caspica breeds on land-fast ice or stable drift ice in the northern Caspian Sea. Breeding has rarely been reported in the ice-free south-eastern Caspian Sea. Five carcases of white-coat Caspian seal pups were recovered from the southern Caspian Sea, Iran, during 2019–2022. From survey interviews, two white-coat Caspian seal pups were also observed in Amirabad and between Ghorogh and Rudsar. These records represent very late pupping dates compared to normal pupping periods. Coastal Iran should be surveyed annually for Caspian seal pups to determine frequency of breeding and areas of importance identified in the Iran Caspian Seal Action Plan.

Giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca exhibits are popular attractions for zoos and wildlife parks. However, it remains to be investigated whether such exhibits enhance visitor knowledge about pandas and broader conservation issues. We conducted questionnaire surveys at giant panda exhibits at three city zoos and five wildlife parks in China. Although visitors were generally interested in the giant panda, this was not reflected in their post-exhibit knowledge of giant panda biology. Socio-demographically, men were more knowledgeable of giant panda biology than women. Knowledge correlated positively with respondent level of education. Younger respondents (< 45 years) knew most about giant pandas and expressed an interest in learning more about them using social media. The most informed respondents had visited other giant panda exhibits previously. Respondents were generally satisfied with the giant panda exhibits (mean score 4.44/5). Wildlife parks delivered a better educational outcome than city zoos. We recommend approaches to improve the visitor experience further and to leverage public interest in broader conservation engagement and action in China.